Thursday, August 19, 2010

..For The Love of Coffee, Soap, Knitting and Rainy Days!!!

Hi everyone...oh boy....I'm so thankful to God for a job at this point in time, even if it's not "sure" whether it'll continue past Christmas or not. God is good and I'm learning how to be a good steward of my money..although I will readily admit that I still struggle with spending money on fancy coffee drinks. The coffee is good...and so are the baristas. They are really nice to my dad and I..

Anyway, I just had to get some things out of my head and onto a blog post. My sweet friend Gerry over at Gerry's Soap N Stuff sent me two lovely bars of handmade soap the other day!!!! Click here to visit her blog. She's a really sweet lady who knows all there is to know about making homemade soap. Take a look at the photo below...These are the two lovely handmade soaps from Gerry...lovingly styled with my cloth knit from real sugar cane fibres!!! Oh, this soap smells to GOOD!!!!

Gerry asked me one day if she could send me a couple of bars. YES!!!! Gerry, thank you!!! When this arrived in the mail, it was the highlight of my day :) ;) :) :) The white bar of soap on the right is the "Easy 2 Pounds of Soap" recipe. The pink bar has "black raspberry vanilla" fragrance oil in it and some palm oil. Let me tell you...it's hard to put it down, because it smells so good!!! Pay Gerry a visit and tell her I said "hello" :) :) :)

The cloth that the soaps are sitting on is that yarn made from 100% sugar cane fibres. Yes, sugar can!!!! Here's a link to the yarn that I bought. When I can afford it, I like to shop at The Web*sters. It's my favorite knitting store in Ashland, Oregon. It comes in hanks and is super difficult to wind into a ball...but it's so worth it. Ladies, this yarn is luxury..It drapes so nicely. It's a real dream. it was a little difficult to knit with because the yarn reminds me of really slick mercerized cotton..HOWEVER, with patience, you'll really like it. I knit in garter stitch (knitting on every row) to make this rectangular cloth. I actually use it at work to put my coffee mug on. It looks pretty and serves as a shield if my coffee spills..

I've been praying for some warm, muggy Oregon summer rain for awhile now. Oregon can be really hot during the summer. The humidty can really be oppressive sometimes, but there's beauty in that, because oppressive heat, usually means a nice summer rainstorm somewhere down the line. We finally got one a couple of days ago. Here's what the skies looked like outside my front door at about 4 p.m. on Tuesday. This is for real and I did nothing to touch up those photos. Don't those clouds look majestic and threatening all at the same time?

This photo was the skies above the apartment parking lot.

Now it only rained that one day where I lived...and it wasn't much of a rainstorm at all. Honestly, I do feel I got cheated just a little with the rain :) :) When I purchased the local newspaper the following Wednesday, there were some photos of flooding in some parts of the county. So some people did suffer some rain damage from the storm. That was surprising because in my town it seemed "relatively" calm in comparison.

These are what the clouds looked like outside my front door. I think I may have taken this photo while on the way to the grocery store. The clouds have these beautiful highlights with the dark rain clouds overhead...This photo is also untouched, completely natural. Isn't God's creation amazing?

This is a little bit of what it looked like while it was raining. I'm hoping we will get some more rain later this summer. This was the best photo I could take for all of you :) :)

I took this photo after my dad and I returned from the grocery store. By that time some of the dark clouds had dissipated, but it was still raining.

There's this one church near my home that I love to drive by because it has this really tall flower bush with these bright, bright magenta flowers. Does anyone know what they're called? A couple of weeks ago this bush looked dead..then yesterday, my dad and I drive by and we see this...

Isn't this intense color? This is a close-up of this flower bush. I don't know what it's called...but it sure is beautiful and it was in full bloom.

The following photo is of the flower bush. I don't think it's a tree, although the church's landscaper has it fashioned like a tree with these stakes. It was in full bloom of color. I tried to get a really clear, detailed photo and it was impossible...even with lowering the exposure on my digital camera. Then I smiled at the thought that God could/would create a flower so brilliant that taking a photo is impossible, no matter what the weather is like outside :) :) :)

If you know what kind of flower this is, please let me know. Don't you just love all the color? It's insanely beautiful!!!!

My dad is a really sweet man and here's a funny story that I shared with my Facebook friends yesterday. My dad went to the grocery store yesterday morning to pick up a couple of things. He actually went to buy me some generic Epsom salts because my feet had been experiencing some swelling. So I'm going to try soaking them in this stuff and see if it helps. Anyway, when he comes home he surprises me with this beautiful bouquet of one dozen brightly colored roses with some lovely accents. See the photo below...

Isn't this gorgeous? My dad gave these to me yesterday!!!

My father is more likely to give me a good Christian book or a nice cup of coffee from The Human Bean. I can think of only two other times in my entire life he's ever given me flowers. Today is a new day folks. I asked him about the roses. He said that when he was at the grocery store, the cashier asked him if he wanted the flowers. Apparently, they can't sell flowers that are a day old...and so it was either give them to my dad or throw them away. Well, my grandmother didn't raise no dummy...so my dad took the flowers home and gave them to me :) :) They are long-stemmed roses. I put them in my antique vintage pitcher. There was nothing else available and in an effort to use what I already have, this fit the bill perfectly..Aren't they beautiful?This is my first attempt at styling a floral arrangement. It doesn't match the pink/cherry table runner, but that's okay...It's all pretty and the flowers still looking really, really good!!!

I'm thinking about keeping some sort of flowers in there all the time now. It really brightens up the dining room area. What do you think? I think they are really cheery and bright!!! There is never such a thing as too many roses. ...nope, in this case, more is more!!!

Oh, I found this really super cute blog site awhile back called Rachel's Knitting Corner. I don't remember which one of you dear ladies directed me to this blog...but I'm in knitting heaven. Click here to visit this nice lady's blog site. She's a knitter...and I LOVE knitting. Anyway, every month she has a mystery dishcloth to knit. This current dishcloth project started on August 16th. Every day she posts a few more rows to knit and eventually, by the end of the month, you have a completed dishcloth with a fun mystery pattern that's revealed as you knit it. So I'm going to knit this current dishcloth.

Now there are already 4 days worth of posts. I 'll post about it tomorrow and include a link with my progress. If you knit, maybe you'd consider joining this blog or following the pattern and knitting a dishcloth of your own. Mystery dishcloths....I'm lovin' it!!! She also has links to past projects..and with every day's new post, she includes all the previous knitting instructions leading up to that point!!!

That's about it for today. I hope you don't mind my "spaghetti" thinking today...starting at one point, going off on a tangent and stopping at the end of the original point. There's just so much I wanted to share with you all.

I've also realized that I haven't done much with budgeting and some other things lately. So I apologize for getting a little off track...but lately I just feel the need to post about what's on my heart. Oh, thank you so much for all the nice comments you have been leaving me here. I read every one and they've been much appreciated..especially since I started working. What really touches my heart is reading how you ladies look forward to reading my blog..That makes me smile...really!!!! I love Jesus Christ and just want to be a person that makes people feel good when they visit and feel good afterwards too...so when I read your comments about my blog, it was so unexpected and very touching. I'm wild with delight :) :) :)

Heather,Good to see you again. The soap and cloth are lovely. I love Gerry's blog--it's very informative. Oh, I want some of that yarn. I'll have to look for it locally--love the colors. Our skies have been looking much like yours lately. We have been getting some nice rain for a change. It sure brings the temperatures down. The flowering tree looks like a crepe myrtle--I have some on my blog that are at the end of my driveway. I love those trees!!Gorgeous roses--your dad is a keeper!!!I love Rachel's blog. I belong to the monthly dishcloth kal on yahoo. I love making dishcloths--they are quick but you can also learn some nice stitches. I hope you have a lovely weekend. Take care. Sheila

Hi Heather!So many goodies to enjoy on your posts today! Lovely flower pics, and I've always enjoyed pictures of clouds.:-) That was so sweet of your Dad to bring you those roses, and I love the pitcher you chose for them. I am one who always likes fresh flowers on my table (even though it doesn't always happen lol) Thanks for sharing and oh, I believe Sheila's right that looks like a crepe myrtle and I love those trees! Have a great night!Blessings,Jill

Hello Dear Heather, I am so glad to be able to visit with you. Thank you for sharing all of these wonderful sites I must check them out you are so sweet to share this information.The soap looks wonderful I have always wanted to learn how to make soap. I used to knit years ago, but haven't in a long time, Visiting you has now encouraged me to once again start again. I also love your roses, your Dad seems like such a great father.The flower you showed is a crepe Myrtle, we have these and enjoy them so much, they come in different colors but this color is my favorite.Thank you for checking in on me while I was gone, I so appreciate you so much.Hugs,Sue

Hi Heather, Another good post and I so enjoyed it. As you have already learned, the flower is crepe myrtle. I just wanted to tell you that is the red flower in my header picture. I have 2 big BIG plants at my entrance driveway.

I love your pretty bouquet. You know, before they began to wilt, you can tie the stems together, hang upside down and dry them. I dryed a rose bouquet a couple of years ago and am still using it on display. You can still smell the fragrance.

Thanks for visiting this blog :) :)

Thanks for visiting my blog :) I love Jesus Christ, anything romantic, pretty, Victorian, country or any combination of those :) I love crafts and saving money. As time goes on I hope to add more interesting things to this blog. Enjoy and have a wonderful day! Feel free to leave a comment, as long as it's kind. All the photos are mine. If you would like to borrow them, please ask me first. Thanks so much. Greetings from the Northwest :) :)